In days gone by, when co-workers wished to consult each other, they would simply get up from their chair and walk to their colleague's office. But the advent of the telephone and, more recently, the computer has eliminated the need to directly visit a colleague's office. Instead, a call on the telephone system, or a quick chat via instant messaging has enable communication without the need for physical activity. If a user needs a file, since everyone's offices are networked together and almost all files are electronic, the user can simply access their colleague's file via the network.
Aside from the physical ramifications of the lack of exercise, this interconnectivity has also led to the isolation of workers. Because workers can communicate electronically, they do not need to make physical contact with each other. There has also been an impact on communications, in the loss of the ability to leave messages. When people had to physically visit a colleague's office, if the colleague was absent, the user would leave a message. But using a computer to visit a colleague's files electronically does not allow for messages of that sort, and voicemail is not adequate to the task, for example, in case a drawing must be left for the colleague. Further, there is currently no capability that parallels visiting a common area. For example, to contact technical support, the user does not care with which person he speaks, only that he speaks with someone in technical support.
The present invention addresses these and other problems associated with the prior art.